The relationship of self-esteem, the belief in a sexual double standard, and the progression of sexual behaviors for college males and females

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-esteem, belief in a sexual double standard (SDS), and beliefs about how far sexual behaviors should progress in various levels of opposite-sex and same-sex relationships. The sample of this study included male (n=123) and female (n=198) college students. Demographic data indicated the mean age of the sample was 22.2 years. Participants were predominately European Americans (83%) in their Junior and Senior (74.7%) years of college. T-tests indicated that males and females were significantly different in their reported levels of self-esteem, belief in a SDS, and belief about how far sexual behaviors should progress for the majority of opposite-sex and same-sex relationship levels. Correlational analyses indicated that, for females, self-esteem was negatively related to a belief in a SDS. Additionally, for males, belief in a SDS was shown to be related to how far they believed sexual behaviors should progress for several levels of opposite-sex and same-sex relationships. For females, belief in a SDS was shown to be negatively related to how far they believed sexual behaviors should progress for all but the first same-sex relationship levels.